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Friday, May 2, 2014

A Discussion on the 8 Other Taste Sensations

A Discussion on the 8 Other
Taste Sensations

(Note: This was originally published in my company's Tech Weekly publication)

Many of you know that I was a
professional chef in a former life. I continue to have a great interest in food
(you can tell by looking at my Buddha belly) and fondness for new culinary
information. Currently the sense of taste is recognized as one of the five
human senses: sight, sound (hearing), smell, touch and taste. Traditionally the
sensation of taste is divided into four types from which most of you are
probably familiar: sweetness, sourness, saltiness and bitterness. This short
article identifies 8 other “tastes”…

Recently there have been several
articles discussing seven-to-eight additional taste sensations and I thought I
would provide a brief description of each so all of you can be better informed
(not that you need to be, but why not?):

Umami – in many lists,
umami has already been added as the fifth taste sensation (but I’m leaving it
on my “other” list as it wasn’t considered a taste sensation during my
upbringing). Borrowed from Japanese culture, umami can be translated as “savory
taste” and is a result of the receptors for glutamate and nucleotides, commonly
found in the sodium additive monosodium glutamate (MSG). In general the effect
is a long-lasting, pleasant brothy or meaty taste that causes your mouth to
water and provides a tongue coating sensation.

Calcium – turns out
that some recent studies in mice have revealed that their rodent tongues have
two taste receptors for calcium and that one of these has also been found on
the human tongue. Since it’s described as bitter and chalky, the receptors may
be there to ward humans (and mice) from eating too much rather than as a flavor
enhancement.

Kokumi – this is a
sensation popularized by Japanese culture – the idea is that some foods have
“heartiness” or “mouthfulness” as an added intensifier, similar to umami.
Japanese scientist suggest that certain compounds like glutathione in yeast
extract and the amino acid L-histidine, interact with our tongue’s calcium
receptors, providing a richness to food you wouldn’t otherwise experience –
this can be found in great concentration in slow-braised, aged or slow-cooked
foods.

Piquance – this is
all about spiciness – the level of capsaicin allows the TRPV1 receptors to
lower the activation temperature to 95 degrees – cooler than the body
temperature which otherwise would react to substances at around 107.6 degrees.
This causes the receptors to shout “hot!” to the brain without actually
blistering your skin. Of course it’s still possible to get burned when a pepper
is especially hot (ask me how I know).

Coolness – the
opposite of piquance, this effect has to do with your mouth’s ability to fool
the brain into thinking something is cooler than the actual temperature. An
example is the herb mint or menthol, which has a cooling effect in the mouth
due to the TPRM8 touch receptors.

Metallicity – most
of our Indian and Asian team members are already familiar with this sensation,
as it’s common to apply gold or silver foil garnishes (known as “vark” in
India) to sweets. Apparently the sensation has to do with electrical conductivity
as a reaction between the saliva in your mouth and the metal, providing a
little zap (as a kid we would put the terminals of a 9v battery on the tongue –
it has a distinctive “metallic” flavor).

Fat – you hear this
all the time from culinary experts. Basically the human tongue is wired to
taste fat – particularly long chain fatty acids (lipids) – most of us are
either attracted to the flavor or repelled by it (for the latter fat tends to
taste bitter).

Carbon Dioxide –
apparently when CO2 is dissolved in liquids, the bursting bubbles cause a
particular sensation on the tongue and mouth, providing a trigeminal stimulus
that’s unique and measurable. Compare the flavor of a freshly opened can of
soda to one that is “flat” – same ingredients but totally different in taste –
that’s the effect of the CO2.

Image is me as a chef in the early 90’s at a now defunct Atlanta local restaurant, Mi Spia(the nearby McKendrick’s was opened by the same entrepreneur).

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About Me

I've been writing online about the things that interest me since about 1995 (back then I had 10 MB of free webspace on my internet provider) - I purchased my first domain, wildtoys.com in 1998, however the site actually started as part of my personal webspace via free provider around 1996. I'm very interested in Modern Design (Mid-Century is a particular favorite), the Space Race, movies and science fiction. I'm also an avid woodworker and vintage toy collection - especially Space Toys and Japanese Toys from the 70's and 80's (what we call Shogun Warriors in the US but what most of Asia refer to as Jumbo Machinders).

I have a number of websites and blogs - search by my name or handle, johnnyapollo